Comparison of inflammation markers in different severities of COVID-19 disease

INTRODUCTION: We retrospectively analyzed COVID-19 patients for clinical and hematologic features and tried to define the most appropriate markers to diagnose and predict the severity.
METHODS: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study. All 4443 patients included were diagnosed with reverse trancription-polymerase chain reaction between January 1 and December 30, 2020. We classified patients according to their mode of treatment: outpatient, inpatient in the ward, or inpatients in the intensive care unit (ICU).
RESULTS: The mean age of 2283 (51.4%) women and 2160 (48.6%) men included in the study was determined to be 39.77±17.30. Of the 4443 patients, 3985 (89.7%) were outpatients, 330 (7.4%) were inpatients, and 128 (2.9%) patients were treated in the ICU. The mean hospital stay was 8.36±4.55 days for the survivors in the ward group and 2.67±1.53 days for those who died (p=0.031). The mean hospitalization time of the survivors in the ICU group was 19.97±12.09 days, and the mean hospitalization time of the deceased was 13.10±9.99 days (p=0.001). Age, ferritin, D-dimer, glucose, ALT, AST, urea, creatinine, CRP, HgA1c, IMG, IMG%, and RDW-SD showed a gradual and significant increase in outpatient, ward, and ICU groups (p<0.001). Na, K, Neu, Neu%, MCV, RDW-CV, MPV, NLR, PLR, and NMR increased gradually from the outpatient group to the service and ICU groups, whereas Ca, RBC, Hgb, and Hct values decreased significantly (p<0.001). WBC, lymph%, and RDW were highest in the ICU group.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Advanced age and being male are important risk factors for hospitalization. Indexes such as NLR, PLR, LCR, NMR, and LMR can be used to predict the severity of the disease.